Fresh and healthy food at your fingertips

A new kind of food-delivery service is becoming more popular among busy but health-conscious South Africans and the service has been popping up all over the place – these are companies that deliver healthy food to your door every week so that you don’t have to think about what to cook. They are great for those of us who are too busy to shop for nutritious food.

Now, a service called uCook is offering subscribers farm-fresh ingredients that you use to prepare your own delicious and healthy meals.

There are three menus you can choose from for varying family sizes: rustic; low-carb, high-fat; and vegetarian. You can get a delivery for one, two or four people, and you get enough food for three dinners.

The company offered City Press a chance to try its service, and I chose the low-carb, high-fat option for two.

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The delivery arrived in a box with polystyrene lining. Inside, there are three cards, each with a different meal on it, with three corresponding paper bags of food. Not only was everything I needed inside the box, but the ingredients were delivered prepacked in the right quantities. So if the recipe calls for 5g of nutmeg or 400g cauliflower, you will get a small packet of nutmeg and a 400g packet of cauliflower in your box. The only thing you have to have at home that is not included in the box is olive oil, salt and pepper. It’s then a simple matter of throwing it all together according to the easy-to-follow instructions on the card.

uCook’s menu changes weekly. During the week that I used the service, the menu was springbok steak with a cauliflower and dried apricot salad, chimichanga chicken tacos and butternut cottage pie.

All the ingredients were extremely fresh and the meat was a good quality.

So, you may ask, what about the price? uCook is surprisingly affordable, with a weekly low-carb, high-fat subscription for two costing R516. The rustic option also costs R516, and vegetarians will spend R438.

With the amount of food we got, there was actually enough left over for lunch the next day.

uCook says it also uses ethically farmed, organic and local produce, so you can be sure you’re getting the highest-quality ingredients.

I’m not one for subscription food services as they can be rather overpriced, but uCook may be worth your while. Give it a go.

Subscribe at uCook.co.za